What Funders Look at in Your Texas Business Bank Statements

Why the account tells the story

Revenue figures on a pitch can be rounded. A bank account cannot. It shows what actually arrived, when it arrived and what left in the days after. For a business with short history or unconventional income, the statements often say more about it than a tax form would. That is why a working-capital application tends to start there.

A reader’s checklist

The same business, two accounts

For illustration only: two Texas landscapers each take in about $40,000 a month. One deposits every customer payment into a business account and pays fuel, materials and wages from it. The other deposits some payments in a personal account, pays some bills in cash and moves money around between accounts. A reader of the first account sees a business. A reader of the second sees a puzzle. The revenue is identical; the readability is not.

Seasonal and lumpy businesses

Many Texas businesses have uneven income: a pool service that peaks in summer, a restaurant near a stadium, a contractor paid by milestone. A funder that sees a dip can find the explanation in your own description. A line or two in the application, such as “we slow down from January through March, then spring work begins,” turns a worrying dip into an expected one.

Things to fix before you apply

1. Separate business and personal accounts if they are mixed.
2. Explain any unusual large deposit in a sentence.
3. Avoid overdrafts by moving money in ahead of payroll, even if you must delay a purchase.
4. Run sales through the account, including card deposits and online payments.

None of this promises an outcome; it is the clean-up that lets a reader see your business accurately.

Questions an owner can ask of their own account

• If I looked at only my last few months of statements, could a stranger tell what I sell and to whom?
• Which deposits would I have to explain, and can I explain them in one sentence?
• Does my balance ever drop below what my next payroll needs, and why?

If you can answer those cleanly, the account is doing its job. If not, the fixes above are the place to start.

The application itself

The Texas Biz Funding application takes about five minutes and uses a soft credit pull. We consider working capital from $25,000 to $5,000,000, funded in as little as 24 hours after approval. Sole proprietors can apply, so a business that has never formed an entity can still be read through its account.